This service will enable researchers to quickly, and gently return small samples and components from the ISS within hours after release from the station. SEC plans to work with scientists whose time critical experiments require immediate retrieval upon landing or experiments that cannot wait for routine capsule return.

There’s not much on SEC’s web site on the Onyx, but eventually they plan to scale up the concept to provide a human quick-return capability from LEO — basically a lifeboat or escape pod from orbital stations.

I hadn’t heard of SEC until reading the article, but their web site is eye-opening. It turns out, quick-return pods aren’t even their core capability.

The Apollo program put the first man on the Moon in 7 years and cost over $100 billion. Shackleton Energy will place a team on the Moon within 8 years, provide millions of tonnes of fuel and water for solar system customers, and lay the foundation for space settlement for approximately one-tenth of the cost of Apollo. First revenues are scheduled to be generated within 4 years of program start and full break-even within 12 years.